Buying, selling or investing is one of the biggest financial decisions you will make. The professionals at CENTURY 21 MarketLink Realty take great pride in providing you with the guidance, advice and support you deserve to make the most of these opportunities.

Surpass the Competition Consumers consider the CENTURY 21® brand the most recognized and the most respected in real estate. Our powerful brand advertising and industry leading website traffic growth can help give you maximum exposure and increased qualified leads. We offer award winning training and access to the latest technologies to assist you in growing your business.

During Halloween, we welcome the presence of spooky beings. While creatures like skeletons and ghosts are fun, creepy-crawlers such as spiders and mice are never invited guests. To stop insects and rodents from crashing Halloween parties, instruct your clients on these pest prevention guidelines. After all, their house should be decorated in fake cobwebs — not real ones!

Plug the Gaps

Over time, gaps form between windows and window frames at varying rates. These gaps are caused by differing expansion and contraction rates of various materials at different temperatures. Homeowners should apply caulk to these window gaps, and to any gaps in attic vents. It’s also wise to install new weatherstripping around doors. This shield around the home may keep insects and rodents out as well as potentially improve the home’s energy efficiency in the cold weather.

Create a Chemical Barrier

Suggest that homeowners protect their home by spreading an insecticide along the foundation of their house, a couple of feet from the ground up and a couple of feet from the foundational wall. Either a liquid spray or a granular insecticide can be used to help combat the bugs around a house’s perimeter. Make sure that they trust a professional to implement pesticides with chemicals that are not harmful to people or pets. Trick-or-treaters would certainly appreciate the effort.

Examine The Roof and Chimney

Because mice can easily climb brick walls and enter a house through the chimney, recommend that your clients install chimney caps, or a metal cover secured on top. Not only could this prevent unwelcome critters from infesting a home, but it could also block autumn leaves from falling into the chimney and posing a fire hazard.

Check The Trees in Your Yard

Trees around the perimeter of a house can act as a welcome mat for raccoons, skunks, and mice. Make sure that no tree branches touch the house, especially on the roof, as animals love to climb from branches and enter homes. Also, insects congregate near woodpiles and shrubs, so keeping a distance between the home and woodpiles and shrubs makes bugs less likely to travel into the house.

Don’t let all the hard work go to waste. Your clients should stay vigilant and close all garage doors, windows and screen doors at night. If unwanted creatures still find a way into the home, the best plan may be to banish them with traps or poisons. However, since it is much easier and cheaper to prevent pests from entering in the first place, be sure your clients follow these guidelines to keep their home protected. This Halloween, they’ll have the house that spooks trick-or-treaters with freaky decorations, not with terrifying critters.

Goblins and witches and ghosts, oh my! How many of these ghoulish creatures will you be greeting this Halloween? Hopefully you’ll have the candy and creepy (but cute) ambiance to avoid the “trick” end of “trick-or-treat!” If you haven’t yet decorated for the holiday, don’t worry. Here are five easy ideas for a “spook-tacular” home.

Eerie Entranceway

Paint black jack-o-lantern faces on small, glass votives. Drop a flameless tealight candle in each of them and use them to decorate around your front door.

Frightening Florals

Black calla lilies have a wonderful dark, purply color. Plant some in flower pots around your home for a gloomy look with an exotic twist.

Raven’s Nest Wreath

Remember last year when you weren’t as prepared for Halloween? Nevermore. Grab a twig wreath from your local craft store and place a faux black bird in the middle.

Black Cat Pumpkins

Paint two pumpkins, one smaller and one larger, all black. Stack the smaller one on top of the other, and add eyes, a nose, and whiskers. Add cat ears cut from card stock and stand back! You won’t want these bad boys crossing your path.

Mummified Glassware

Whether you’re serving up a glass of pumpkin flavored punch or a dish of fun sized candy bars, dress up your glassware to match the mood. Tape gauze to the bottom of the cup and wrap upwards, tucking in an end piece at the top to secure it.

With decorations like these, you just might have trick-or-treaters flocking to your home—if they’re not too scared, that is!

Trick-or-treat! Halloween is around the corner and, besides watching horror movies, the best way to get into true spooky spirit is to decorate. Pick pumpkins for a hint of Halloween spirit, or put in a lot of effort so that you have the spookiest house on the block. WARNING: Even the bravest trick-or-treaters may stay away this year.

1. Pick a theme: You may want to pick a unique theme such as a haunted graveyard or a vampire’s den. Staying within a theme will make it easier to find the right decorations and make your house stand out.

2. Eerie atmosphere: Attack the five senses. Create an eerie feeling in your home by hanging dimmed twinkle lights, setting up a smoke machine, and adding sound effects like screams and ominous music. You’ll spook your guests the moment they walk through the door!

3. Creative, scary props: Mix and match with bigger and smaller props. For the bigger ones, choose something that will bring a spookier feel to the house, like (fake) body parts strewn across the room or hologram wall photos that seem to be staring into your soul. Choose smaller props like (fake) spider webs, a (fake) pool of blood, or even (fake) hanging bats.

4. Dress up: Ask family, friends, and neighbors to help scare your guests. Ask them to dress up as spooky creatures that match your theme.

5. Main attraction: Having a big finish at the end of your haunted house can be the icing on the (poisonous) cake. Set up something big that will give your guests goose bumps, like a haunted laboratory with a monster, or a graveyard scene.

Get ready to scare anyone who is brave enough to enter. You may end up having a lot of leftover candy to eat. The scariest thing in your future may be a trip to the dentist.